New Crochet Beanie Patterns
One of my favorite things to design are hats. I like to sit down on the couch with my hook and yarn, pencil (complete with eraser of course), perhaps a glass of wine within reach. Then I just see what comes out! Sometimes I am in the mood for a bottom up hat, other times a top down. There are benefits to both, and, if you’ve never tried a bottom up hat, I urge you to! It will open up the possibilities for designs that simply can’t be achieved with a top down. When I don’t have a preconceived design in mind I start with a top down though. Designing patterns of ANY kind usually involves lots of frogging (ribbit, rippit) to get things just right.
I’ve designed two new beanies lately that I’m pretty excited about. “The Carol Beanie” and “The Dani Beanie”. They are both bottom up slouchy beanies (“The Carol” is slightly more slouchy than “The Dani,” but both patterns have options/instructions to make your hat as long as you like). “The Dani” also has instructions for making a ponytail hat instead. Both hats would work great with either a wool-blend yarn for warmth, or a cotton yarn to keep it cool in the summer.
“The Carol Beanie” was my first bottom up hat design, and now I’m hooked! It features a ribbed band and an open weave body. Once the body of the hat started coming together, the spaces in between the stitches really looked like angels to me. My mother in law IS an angel on earth, always doing for others, wanting nothing for herself. This hat is named for her. It is available for instant download from my Etsy shop or, if you prefer, on Ravelry. Don’t forget to share pictures! I LOVE seeing the finished items made from my patterns!
The second hat I’m featuring today is “The Dani Beanie”. It’s a bit of a bittersweet one, I’m sorry to say. I was designing this beanie when I received news that a school friend had passed away. Danielle. We went to middle school together, same grades, and had most of the same classes. Although we weren’t extremely close, she was one of the few friends from school I actually got in touch with after Facebook took off.
She had her first child only a few short months after I had mine, and that bonded us in a way. My memories of her in middle school are fond ones. At an age when kids (and especially other girls) can be/are mean, she was an extremely friendly girl. Not petty in any way. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, so sweet. Really smart. I think she was one of the few that got better test grades than I did! Lol. She was also shy. She would hide behind her hair sometimes, long brown hair, wavy at the ends. Her friends would remind her how pretty she was. Eventually she went to her high school and I mine, and we didn’t get in touch until the era of Facebook. I discovered she had chopped off all that hair and come out of her shell, and grown into a beautiful, confident woman. One who was spunky and liked to have fun. This beanie was named in her honor. Rest in peace, Danielle. You will be missed.
The Dani Beanie is available for instant download in my Etsy shop, and is also available on Ravelry.
Speaking of Ravelry, I recently started a group there, specifically for pattern testing. I test my own patterns quite a few times myself before putting them out there, but with paid patterns I want to make extra sure everything is top notch. My testers help me find any errors or language that might be “off”. So, if you are on Ravelry and would like to test future patterns (in exchange for free PDF copies), please visit and join the group! Goddess Crochet
Happy Hooking!
